Chapter Text
Yelena had just gotten a job working here on campus in the Ethics department. I had agreed to bring her lunch this Wednesday, wanting to make sure she didn’t skip out on it like she normally did. Every time she got focused on something, she somehow managed to forget that food was important. I had never really set foot in the Ethics building, but it was nice. Not as nice as the Art building but perhaps that was my own bias. I was trying to find Yelena’s office when I stumbled upon one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. She was talking to someone that I presume was a student and her smile lit up the dim hallways. Her laugh bouncing off the corridors as her hazel eyes land on me. I can see the confusion on her face, having never seen me in the building before. I did my best to avert my eyes, trying to look anywhere but her and desperately trying not to look like I was lost. Leave it to Yelena to not tell me where her office was in this building and get me into this situation. And fuck my life, of course this tall glass of a gorgeous woman was walking over to me. Fuck, fuck, fuck, why the fuck couldn’t she have given me her office?
“Hello, I haven’t seen you in here before, are you lost? Can I help you find someone?” She asked with the most beautiful fucking smile.
“Uh yeah, I usually hang out with the cool kids in the Art department.” I said with a nervous laugh.
“So what brings you up here to the land of reality? A lunch date?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Reality is subjective, just like art.” I said with a scoff.
“Of course you would say that.” She said with a laugh.
“Is that supposed to be some sort of insult?” I asked.
“Take it as you will Mrs.?” She asked.
“Ms. Romanoff.” I corrected her.
“Ah, take it as you will, Ms. Romanoff.” She said, tilting her head to the side.
“Right. Uh, can you help me find my sister? She’s new. Yelena?” I asked, nervously scratching the back of my neck.
“Yelena? Of course. Let me walk you to her office.” She said with a nod.
“Why do you sound surprised that Lena is my sister?” I asked with a frown.
“Well, for starters, she’s cute.” She said with a laugh as she turned to start walking to Yelena’s office.
What the fuck was that supposed to mean? Now all of a sudden, I wasn’t cute. I wasn’t cocky and my ego wasn’t huge, but I knew that I was at the very least, cute. So what the fuck was she saying that for? I shook my thoughts and started following her, still annoyed by the fact that she said that I wasn’t cute.
“Oh stop your pouting.” She said with a look over her shoulder.
“I’m not pouting. Confused, yes. But not pouting.” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Relax, Ms. Romanoff, you’re not cute, you’re hot.” She said with a wink.
The wink almost made me trip over my feet, thank God it was only almost. I would never be able to live that down if she had watched me trip over myself because of something she said. We approached a closed door and I gave her a confused look.
“This is your sister’s office. Mine is across the hall if you were curious. That’s how I know where her office is. I’ll leave you to your little sister lunch you two have planned. I look forward to seeing you around more often, Ms. Romanoff.” She said with a wink.
I had no words, absolutely none. What was I supposed to say to that? That I want to fuck her in her office on her desk and tell her to stay quiet so Yelena wouldn’t hear her? I couldn’t do that. But my God was this woman gorgeous. The way her hair flowed down her back, the smile that was softly resting on her lips, it was completely ridiculous that she could look like this. She left me with a nod and I let out a breath as I reached forward to knock on the door.
“Come in!” She called to me and I opened her door.
“You know, you could’ve told me where your office was.” I said, rolling my eyes as I shut the door behind me.
“Now why would I do that? That would mean you’ll actually find me.” She said with a laugh.
“I ran into the hot redhead whose office is across from yours.” I said, sitting in one of the chairs.
“Oh, Wanda? You think she’s hot?” She asked with a frown.
“You don’t?” I asked, passing her the food I brought.
“I guess? She’s the department head though. So it’s not like I can bang my boss.” She said with a shrug.
“I mean, you can, but I would prefer that you don’t because I really want to.” I said with a laugh.
“Dude, gross. I’m trying to eat.” She said with a groan.
“Well, it’s not going to happen. There’s no way in hell that woman would ever want to date me let alone fuck me.” I said with a shrug, stuffing food into my mouth.
“Why would you say that?” She asked with a frown.
“Maybe you don’t see this because you don’t want to fuck your boss, but that woman is beyond fucking hot. Something that I am not. Plus we kind of got off to a weird start.” I said with a sigh.
“Weird how?” She asked, eating her own food.
“I don’t know. It was just weird. There was like this charged energy around us? I can’t really explain it. Anyways, I made a stupid comment about the art department having the cool kids and she called the ethics department the real world and then I put my foot in my mouth and told her that like art, reality is subjective.” I said with a groan.
“Oh my God, only you.” She said as a bout of hysterical laughter took over her body.
“You’re not helping.” I said.
“Oh, I’m not trying. You need to ask her out.” She said, sending me a look.
“I’m not fucking doing that.” I said, shaking my head.
“You’re such a baby. When’s the last time you dated someone? Maria?” She asked, and I almost flinched at the name.
“Why are we talking about this?” I asked, rubbing my forehead.
“Come on, did she really fuck you up so badly that you can’t date again?” She asked.
“Do you hate me? Did I do something to you to hurt you? Is that why you’re bringing her up right now?” I asked.
“You know I don’t. But Wanda could be good for you. And you won’t know if you don’t at least try. What’s the worst that happens? She says no?” She asked, leaning back in her office chair.
“She’s not gay?” I shot back.
“Oh, she’s gay.” She said with a laugh.
“You know this how? I asked.
“Please. She’s gay. You should see the plants on her desk. She’s gay. The vibes are there.” She said, sending me a look.
“You’re ridiculous. I’m not asking her out. I’ll just admire her from afar.” I said with a shrug.
“ I’m ridiculous? You’re an idiot.” She said.
“Whatever. I need to get back to my building and teach, you know because some of us actually need to teach.” I said, grabbing the now empty containers.
“Hey, I have a class later.” She defended.
“Yeah, okay. I’ll pick you up?” I asked with a laugh.
“Yup, I’ll be here. And so will Wanda, she has a night class.” She said, wiggling her eyebrows.
I grabbed the rest of my things and made my way out of Yelena’s office. I froze, finding myself looking into Wanda’s office. She was sitting at her desk, her hair swept to the side, and a laugh leaving her lips as she did whatever she was doing. I shook the feelings that her laugh brought up and made a move to leave as quickly as possible.
“Ms. Romanoff?” She called and I groaned.
“Yeah?” I asked, popping my head into her office.
“I hope you enjoyed your lunch. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.” She said with a smile, not looking up from her desk.
“Uh yeah, it was good. Have a great rest of your day.” I said before booking it out of there as fast as I could.
I practically ran back to the art building, ignoring the weird comments I was getting from students. There was something about Wanda. I didn’t even know her last name, but I could easily find out. As I began teaching the rest of my classes for the day, one thing remained true, I couldn’t get Wanda out of my head. Her laugh, the way she smiled, her beauty in all entirety really. Between classes I found myself writing on scrap paper, something I hadn’t done since college, since Maria. It had been years, probably too many if you asked most people but I couldn’t help but scribble words down. Seeing Wanda had awoken something inside me and now it was like a raging fire that I couldn’t begin to tame.
Before I knew it, I had an entire poem scrawled out before me. One that I would never show anyone, but the ideas just kept coming to me. Images of Wanda flashing in my mind. In times of silence while there were no students in my room, it was like I could still hear her laugher. It continued to bounce around, reverbing in my mind. I was convinced that it could solve the world’s problems. It somehow broke my heart loose of the chains I had been keeping it in. I had no idea how or why I had suddenly developed feelings for this mystery Wanda so quickly but I needed to know more about her.
I started with the staff directory. I went to the Ethics department and couldn’t help but smile when I saw little Yelena’s picture on the site, I really was completely and utterly proud of her. She worked her ass off to get here and she did it without me giving her a recommendation or talking to anyone. That was what I was most proud of. But right above Yelena was Wanda. Even her staff picture was gorgeous. Something I found ridiculous because who has a good staff ID picture? Isn’t it like a thing that they’re all supposed to be absolutely horrible? Kind of like your driver’s license. But no, there she was, smiling and fucking gorgeous. But other than her photo, I finally got her last name. Wanda Maximoff, somehow her last name sounded familiar, kind of like the track coach’s. Which would be just perfect, of course, she would probably be married and just be one of those women who didn’t wear a ring. But it did make cyberstalking her that much easier.
I pulled up every social media I could think of but finding her was a lot harder than I had expected it to be. I looked up the track coach’s name in the directory and found out his name was Pietro, so I tried finding him on social media. Something that proved to be much easier than finding Wanda. I stalked him, finding pictures of the two of them smiling happily together and I felt my gut twisting in what could only be jealousy and frustration. Until I saw a post from his birthday that informed me that the two of them were twins, not married. I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t even known I was holding in and continued to scroll.
Before I knew it, my day was over and I had to go pick up Yelena. I grabbed the poem that I’d written, intending on throwing it out so no one would ever see it. But then I had the thought of leaving it for Wanda. She would be in her night class by the time I got to Yelena so I could leave it without her knowing. That’s what I was going to do, leave the poem I had written for her, on her desk and not tell her who it was from. That was the safest thing to do, right? I made the walk back to the Ethics building, one that was frankly too long and Yelena was lucky that I loved her enough to do it. Once I’d made it there, I walked down the short hallway, seeing Wanda’s office empty and I stepped inside, taking a deep breath. She’d left her desk light on and the office was dimly lit, it was cute, and it seemed to match her well. I decided to read the poem over once more before setting it down, wanting to make sure that it was perfect.
Your hair like the embers smoldering in my heart,
Eyes the color of the plants that adorn your desk.
A laugh that haunts me in times of silence,
Illuminating the darkest corners of my mind.
Consumed by the mystery surrounding you,
Two passing ships destined to meet again.
Feelings that once lay dormant now flourishing,
All it took was a simple “hello”.
Before I could change my mind, I placed the poem on her desk and frantically ran to Yelena’s office, and opened the door. The quick action scared her and honestly, my breathing was anything but normal at the moment so that probably didn’t help either.
“Jesus Christ, did you just commit a murder?” She asked frantically.
“No, just want to get going.” I said, trying to regain my composure.
“Okay, okay, I’m ready. Let’s go.” She said, shutting her light off and walking with me out the door.
I chanced a glance back into Wanda’s office and saw the paper sitting delicately on her desk. It scared me to not know what she would think about it, but I made the right choice in not putting my name. I didn’t want to possibly scare her off. Maybe I could slowly work my way into her heart by leaving her poems. I’d have to wait and see how she feels about this one. I just hoped that she would talk to Yelena about the mystery poem tomorrow so I could see how she felt about it before doing it again.